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Subject: |
[43F Group] New inputs and throughput (was: Seriously thrashing on notetaking) |
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Sat, 12 Mar 2005 14:57:40 -0500 |
On Mar 10, 2005, at 10:10 PM, John SJ Anderson wrote:
> From reviewing this thread, it really sounds like your primary problem
> isn't tools; it's execution and personal load. You're at that point
> where, by trying to do more, you're actually accomplishing less. All
> the software in the world isn't going to help with that; you just have
> to _do_ the stuff. 8^)=
Quite possibly. Which raises a point that I haven't seen addressed
much elsewhere -- 90% of my inputs are self-generated, and 90% of
*those* are probably best forgotten but look awfully shiny at first
glance. There's a lot to be said for letting a new project age for a
day or two before putting any time into it, and I'm looking at ways to
do that.
But that doesn't change the central idea that it's deeply UNSATISFYING
to self-censor new ideas, yet the quantity of new ideas is unlinked
>From the amount of time available to process them. Actually, if
anything, the busier I am and the more in the zone, the more likely I
am to be generating other projects.
Case in point is this email. My goal for a long time has been to use
Life Balance and DayLite to track my time spent in various task areas
-- the idea being to come up with a standing figure for how much time I
spent on repeating tasks, and then an added figure for what I'm doing
in project work. This would give me hard data on when I'm overloaded,
and when I can take on new commitments. Ideally, what I want is to say
to some bit of software: "here's a new database I want to write in
FMP7", and it would say, "as it stands, you'll get to that in
mid-April."
As you might guess, I've taken several stabs at building such a beast
-- nice revenue opportunities there -- but then this becomes its own
PROJECT, plus it requires some fairly heavy data collection techniques.
I haven't yet figured out how to actually make that stick. But just
writing this email is giving me some ideas for implementation, and let
me tell you, it's damned difficult to stop myself from pulling myself
away from these replies to go do something with that.
> If we ever get around to having that DC-area GTD/43F gathering (or the
> next time we get together for coffee), I'll show you what I'm doing
> with Emacs and planner-mode
I'll be glad to look at that, but I suspect that the division between
GUI and CLI will be too high a hurdle. Yes, I love the idea of an
organizing technique that won't spike my CPU, but I can tell you right
now that it's going to be frustrating when I can't drag-and-drop into
planner-mode. (And if I can, I'll find some other quibble. I'm good
at that.)
> The other thing that might help you is about a week with no new inputs
> -- just processing the newest of the old stuff. Another option would
> be to block out a period of time each day -- first hour in the
> morning, whatever -- and just process old stuff during that time
> period.
Great ideas. If someone can point me to a supplier to pick up the
illicit drugs that would create both the focus to do so, and would shut
down the irrelevant creativity that sends me down other bunny trails,
I'm all ears.
Best,
Jeff
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